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Operation:Knightfall
Operation: Knightfall, which took place in 19 BBY immediately before the end of the Clone Wars, was one of the first conflicts of the Great Jedi Purge. After assisting in the death of Jedi Master Mace Windu and submitting to the tutelage of Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Sidious—known to the galaxy as Palpatine, Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic—Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker fell to the dark side and was anointed Darth Vader. Just afterward, Vader was assigned a detachment of the 501st Legion's clone troopers and was tasked with storming the Jedi Temple on Coruscant alongside them. This massacre, as well as the mandate given to the clones instructing them to kill their Jedi officers in the field, marked the beginning of a galaxy-wide hunt for the Jedi. Most of the Jedi inside the Temple were executed by the invaders while the Temple burned, and within minutes of the Purge's inception, much of the Jedi Order was wiped out. During the fighting, Vader altered a beacon that alerted Jedi across the galaxy—the ones that had not already fallen to the clones in their ranks—that the Clone Wars were over and ordered them back to the Temple, where a garrison of clone troopers lay in wait to finish them off. All of the Jedi who complied with the beacon's mandate were killed by squads of clones, some of whom were disguised as Jedi themselves. To prevent more deaths, two surviving Jedi Masters, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda, infiltrated the Temple and switched the beacon, changing the message to ward any surviving Jedi away and instructing them to go into hiding. With the operation's completion, the bodies of the slain Jedi were publicly burned in a massive pyre in front of the Jedi Temple Public Entrance. The 501st troopers were transported to Coruscant in several [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Venator-class_Star_Destroyer Venator-class Star Destroyers] that stayed over the city throughout the operation. Marching silently to the gates of the Temple with the clones, Darth Vader was met by Gate Master Jurokk, whom Vader asked about the whereabouts of the Temple's current commander, Jedi Master Shaak Ti. After Jurokk told him that she was meditating in the Temple, Vader killed the Gate Master and led the clones inside.[7] As the troopers dispersed throughout the Temple's vaulted halls at Clone Commander CC-1119's direction,[3] Vader took a small group of clones to capture the communication center via the Jedi Archives. There, a Jedi Knight named Sha Koon, weary from researching and tracking a Sith the Jedi suspected of manipulating the war, awoke to smoke and a battle raging in the Temple. Though surprised at clones in the halls surrounding the Archive, she felt their intent through the Force and blindly fled deep into the Temple.[13] Upon entering the Temple's library with the clones, Darth Vader ordered Jocasta Nu, the Chief librarian of the Archives, to grant him access to the communication room.[6] Nu, already sensing something suspicious, had earlier dispatched her Padawan, Jin-Lo Rayce, to the lower levels of Coruscant with detailed maps of the planet's underbelly as a means of keeping him alive.[14] When she ignited her lightsaber to confront the Sith, Vader used the Force to impale her with his own saber, killing her.[6] Koon sensed Nu's death through the Force. In tandem, she also identified Skywalker as the perpetrator of this massacre and realized that he had turned from the light to become a Sith Lord. This heightened her will to survive, which she did by utilizing the same passageways Rayce did to escape, having learned of them from him earlier The clones charged into the Temple foyer to meet with heavy resistance from Jedi and Temple Security Force personnel, eventually clearing the High Council Chamber of resistance. They were then ordered to pacify the library and defend holobook shelves from Jedi that were trying to destroy them until a content download could be performed to capture the confidential Jedi information and Sith secrets. After that information was taken, the clones fought to acquire a holocron detailing Sith and Jedi knowledge from the Archives, delivering the device to an awaiting Low Altitude Assault Transport for carriage away from the battle.[8] On Vader's front, a Zabrak Jedi activated a ray shield defense system and hid in a shield-protected room during the carnage. Once Vader had disabled the shields and killed the alien, he and a group of clones were ambushed by a band of Jedi in a hall. At a clone's suggestion, Vader toppled a large statue to crush the warriors and used a chunk to break his way into a study hall, where his party eliminated several Jedi students. When Jedi interceptors were launched in an attempt to cut down the clone force, Vader commandeered an anti-aircraft gun to shoot them down, making his way to the communication center at the summit of the High Council quarter once he had finished off the last ship. He altered and broadcast a beacon ordering all Jedi to return to the Jedi Temple[6] on the High Council's authority[3] because the war was over, leading any who heeded the call to their death at the hands of the clones. Meanwhile, the Jedi Cin Drallig managed to penetrate upper-level defenses, and Vader elected to deal with him, ordering nearby clone assassins to guard the beacon with their lives. the 501st Legion secured all four Jedi Council chambers and fought the Temple Security Force in the main hall. Darth Vader then returned from his duel with Cin Drallig and collected a holocron from the corpse of a Jedi he had killed alongside his troops. As they focused the brunt of their attack on the hall, three Jedi Masters, who had taken somewhat of a military command over the remaining Jedi, led the last of the Jedi into the main hall in a final attempt to repel the 501st. The Jedi came out in a sudden charge against the clones, but despite their assault, the three were eventually killed along with their allies by the insurgents.[8] Vader ascended the High Council Tower to search the Council Chamber for more survivors, and it was there that he found an entire Clan of Younglings.[1] A young boy, Sors Bandeam,[20] approached Vader from where the other Younglings,[1] including Shia Letap and Jeswi Ele,[20] had hidden themselves. Bandeam, not realizing that Vader had defected to the Sith, asked him what the Jedi were going to do, and in answer, Vader executed the entire Clan.[1] As the Temple burned, Bail Organa, the senator from Alderaan and a Jedi sympathizer landed on the landing platform of one of the Council Tower hangars to investigate the fire. After being turned away by the clones guarding the hangar, the retreating Senator witnessed the execution of Zett Jukassa, a young Padawan. The clones started to fire on Bail Organa until Clone Sergeant Fox told them to let him go.[7] As the fighting began to die down, Darth Sidious arrived at the Temple to check on Vader's progress. Vader knelt before his Master and was congratulated by the Dark Lord. The apprentice then traveled to Mustafar to eliminate the leaders of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, a faction opposing the Republic that had seceded three years prior, assembled there by Sidious for "talks" to end the conflict.[1]